Mindful Rhythms – trauma informed education

On February 13, 2013, Mindful Rhythms joined Dancers without Borders and The Men’s Story Project in collaboration with the One Billion Rising call to Dance to bring rehearsals into the San Francisco jail for the male inmates of County Jail #5 to teach the choreographed dance for the song “Break the Chain”. The following day, on February 14th, inmates performed the dance in the men’s and women’s jails, in solidarity with a flash mob of over 1,000 dancers at City Hall and dancers in over 200 countries around the world. The dance in the jail was part of the One Billion Rising global dance event, aimed at raising awareness for the issue of domestic violence.

Sheriff Mirkarami and his family happened upon Dancing Without Border’s first flash mob performance on January 26th at Justin Herman Plaza. He watched us weave together a message of reconcillation and healing between men and women. Through this courageous creative message he was moved to bring the One Billion Rising “Break the Chain” choreography to the population he serves and clear the way forproduction of the Inmate Rising Video, truly “Art in Action”, and the power of image to transform trauma and practice peace.

Here is a clip of the February 13th rehearsals in CJ #2 and CJ #5.

We were in CJ 5 for four hours. Mindful Rhythms was used in the restorative justice group process held before the rehearsal. The group included the 30 male inmates, guards, and our team. Mindful Rhythms was included as a group process to ground and center the participants, create community and a safe container for the rehearsal. The rehearsal was transformational.

The message that Eve Ensler provided reached into the hearts and souls of the most vulnerable and marginalized individuals within our immediate community. The call to RISE created a momentum that is unprecedented within our jail systems. The inmates, through creative facilitation were led through a process that created the context of healing. All felt that a shift has taken place. Perhaps a message of restoration can happen at all levels of our society. No one shall be left behind.